The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way

by Bryson, Bill

• ISBN13: 9780380715435
• ISBN10: 0380715430
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-05-06
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publications

Summary

With dazzling wit and astonishing insight, Bill Bryson--the acclaimed author of The Lost Continent--brilliantly explores the remarkable history, eccentricities, resilience and sheer fun of the English language. From the first descent of the larynx into the throat (why you can talk but your dog can't), to the fine lost art of swearing, Bryson tells the fascinating, often uproarious story of an inadequate, second-rate tongue of peasants that developed into one of the world's largest growth industries.

"Diverting and richly anecdotal...Bryson is an unalloyed fan who relishes the language's versatility, verb hoard and vast vocabulary." -Robert Taylor, Boston Globe

"Vastly informative and vastly entertaining...A scholarly and fascinating book." -Fred S. Holley, Los Angeles Times

Table of Contents

1. THE WORLD'S LANGUAGE	11	(10)
2. THE DAWN OF LANGUAGE	21	(14)
3. GLOBAL LANGUAGE	35	(11)
4. THE FIRST THOUSAND YEARS	46	(21)
5. WHERE WORDS COME FROM	67	(17)
6. PRONUNCIATION	84	(15)
7. VARIETIES OF ENGLISH	99	(18)
8. SPELLING	117	(17)
9. GOOD ENGLISH AND BAD	134	(13)
10. ORDER OUT OF CHAOS	147	(14)
11. OLD WORLD, NEW WORLD	161	(18)
12. ENGLISH AS A WORLD LANGUAGE	179	(17)
13. NAMES	196	(18)
14. SWEARING	214	(11)
15. WORDPLAY	225	(14)
16. THE FUTURE OF ENGLISH	239	(8)
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY	247	(10)
INDEX	257